Product Update: Cell-Stack for Street Furniture
Last year we wrote an article regarding the role of public assets when building wireless networks. We discussed the challenges telecoms network providers face when attempting to expand networks in the current climate and hypothesised how digitising public assets with NFT’s can be the key to solving these challenges. It can potentially cut the time to secure telecoms infrastructure by up to 90%, vastly aiding the expansion of the current network whilst also adding value to publicly owned assets.
Since publishing that article we’ve been working relentlessly to bring this idea to fruition. Through our software Cell-Stack, we are building the foundations of a decentralised connectivity marketplace that will enable more efficient use of infrastructure through digitisation of telecoms assets. Cell-Stack aims to help those who build networks transition into a software-based platform, greatly reducing the level of bureaucracy involved in facilitating the use of public assets by external parties, creating a marketplace that will manage the process for renting assets, transforming future network deployments.
Having the ability to view available network assets within a city with pinpoint accuracy is extremely beneficial to telecoms networks providers. Take BT as an example, who are increasingly turning to small-cell deployments to expand their networks. Small-cells typically need to be mounted in urban areas relatively close to the street level for them to be effective. The use of this technology has led to network providers relying on the use of public assets as an alternative to the expensive and time consuming process of constructing their own mounting poles in urban areas.
Cell-Stack and the Network-as-a-Service marketplace give local authorities an opportunity to utilise their assets to open up new incremental revenue streams and lower their total cost of ownership. Whilst the reduced involvement in facilitating asset transitions will save money by making operations more efficient and productive allowing local authorities to utilise their time on more important topics.
Cell-Stack Proof of Concept
Working alongside Transport for Greater Manchester in our 5G Smart Junctions (SJ5G) Project we utilised this collaboration to create a proof-of-concept (PoC) for Cell-Stack using public assets and street furniture on Salford City’s Crescent.
Data Schemas
One of the most vital aspects of incorporating public assets into Cell-Stack was ensuring that the correct data is collected for each asset, assuring that whoever wants to utilise that asset for a network deployment, has relevant and accurate information. For example, telecoms network providers would want to mount antennas on top of traffic lights or street lights and therefore would need to know the precise height, location, power supply and data cabinet details for these individual assets.
Individual asset details form a data schema. The basis of this collection was knowledge extracted from TFGM and their current dataset, whilst we also used our knowledge of developing 5G networks to expand this repository from different stakeholder perspectives, including structural and electrical engineers. We validated this data by referencing industry standards such as Uniclass, the unified construction classification. Whilst we conducted physical surveys of the assets that were involved in the SJ5G project to identify additional data points.
User Interface
Alongside creating applicable data schemas, we have been developing the first iteration of Cell-Stacks User Interface (UI) focusing on perfecting the experience for the multitude of users that will be accessing the platform.
Through our dashboard, users are able to see asset information and availability in real-time. This is visualised on a zoomable map with supported data layers that allows users to view all assets within a defined spatial region. These assets are enumerated based upon their underlying connections, such as their links to certain data cabinets or traffic light systems. We use these connections to define clusters of aggregated assets which once selected can provide information on the cluster or the individual assets. This functionality allows users to effortlessly utilise the map to discover asset availability and suitability for their use case.
Cell-Stack Next Steps
Throughout this year we plan to continue developing and improving Cell-Stack, including working further with market partners to validate information exposed through the portal as additional data validation to ensure we are carrying all of the relevant information for each type of asset. This creation of a Digital Twin of the assets is the first step towards the frictionless commercialisation in the open marketplace.
We are continuing to use our collaboration with the private and public sector to extract the financial and legal aspects, as well as the requirements from the current processes that are used to rent ownership of assets. These will then be built into a smart contract which will form the basis of the marketplace, and allow for the full transactional process to take place via Cell-Stack.
Finally, through collaborations with private infrastructure operators, a key next step is to run the PoC to complete a trial site acquisition using Cell-Stacks marketplace via a smart contract. This site acquisition trial will allow us to showcase Cell Stack and put forward for further expansion with an objective of creating a solid foundation for Local Authorities to build asset Digital Twins and s marketplace as part of wider smart city ambitions.
